Scarlet Autumn
by Aveangeladarkangel
Summary: Shortly after Cross academy began anew Chairman Cross brings home a teenage girl and tells Zero she is his new partner as a disciplinary committee member, but... she doesn't know about Vampires.new title & summary in future. Zeroxoc XD cause I can
1. Prologue

**Today I began writing and before I knew it I had a prologue of a story I had played around with for a while. It's probably not going to be very good. But I'm pretty excited. Also… I have no idea if I'll keep the characters in… well character. But I will try my hardest. And I hope to hear what you guys think about this story. (Or prologue, whatever it is right now. XD) **

"Stay back," Zero hissed Meiru stared at him. His eyes glazed red as he stood trembling in the moonlight. Meiru made no move but watched him.

He was her partner as a disciplinary member. He was her protector from the moment she had met him. He was her friend.

"Am I to leave you to suffer?" Meiru found herself asking. Her voice was small, terrified, but mostly… concerned.

"Just stay away from me!" Zero's voice rose, emotions twisted themselves into his words… terror, fear, regret, guilt, anger, pain… Meiru swallowed, feeling every emotion wash over her as Zero shouted. Slowly she realized she was clutching her heart as hard painful throbs erupted from her chest. Why did it hurt? What even hurt? She watched the boy only a few feet away from her and her heart gave off another painful thud.

"Zero…" Meiru said softly, "I don't want to leave you, if you're hurting this badly." Zero's red eyes opened behind his hands, he looked at her through his fingers.

Her face was pale, her eyes wide with fear. Why… WHY did she stand there? Wasn't she aware of the danger? Couldn't she see? Why was she standing there frozen with fear, and yet… worrying about him? Why didn't she have sense enough to run away? Zero jerked when she took a slow timid step towards him.

"No… please… just… leave… please…" His voice dropped to a beg. Meiru didn't listen; she kept walking towards him, her footsteps growing more confident. Zero backed away from her with every step she took until he hit the window behind him.

"Me… MEIRU!" He shouted, his arms shook violently with the animal desire, and yet… she kept walking, and didn't stop until she stood in front of him. Slowly she raised a hand and placed it against Zero's chest. He jerked under her touch, trying to summon enough willpower to push her away. Meiru felt how fast his heart was beating under her fingers.

"Zero," She said, she watched as his hands trembled and shook violently as they slowly came up to grab her shoulders. "I told you… I will always… trust you." Zero leaned forward until his breath was hot on her neck. "And…" she breathed, feeling her terror grow but she bit it down, "I know… I feel safe… whenever you're with me…" She took a slow, calming breath before Zero's fangs, pierced her skin.

**And that's all I wrote as a prologue. SO I hope you liked it and I'll write the first chapter whenever I write it and put it up whenever that happens XD.**

**-Ave**


	2. The New Cross

Chapter 1: The New Cross

Snow fell on the quiet night. Trees grew heavy as the snow built on their boughs. A cold frigid breeze blew through the forest, disrupting the steady falling of the snow. A branch, especially heavy with the new fallen snow, finally gave way to the heavy weight upon it and dropped its load onto the ground

A lone figure walked through the forest with a steady pace, as if they had memorized the path that lay hidden in the snow. Another blast of cold wind hit the back of the traveler. Without a sound, the figure tightened his coat around his lean body. He stopped outside a large gate, inside he could see the spread of trees, but in the distance, through the small spaces of the trees, he could see a light. Home.

The word was still strange to him, but there was no longer another word for it. Home.

He raised a gloved hand and pushed the gate open. It gave a groan of protest as well as a resistance as the snow packed at the bottom of the gate created a wall of ice, but the figure finally slipped through the narrow gap of an opening and closed the gate behind him.

A puff of stem brushed his lips as he breathed a sigh. Slowly he walked through the trees, forgetting the path he had followed earlier, and walked to the lighted house.

A small dog jumped up with a growl when the traveler walked up to the front door. He cast a weary confused glance at the dark brown pup before he opened the front door.

The dog bolted through the figure's legs and ran into the house, disappearing around a corner at the end of the hall. There was a sudden scream and a crash before the dog came running back into the hallway, something clamped tightly in his jaw. An older man barreled after the small creature and grabbed it around the middle.

"I've got you now you fiend!" The man said as he stood up proudly.

"What are you doing?" the traveler asked, his eyebrow rose with his question. The older man looked up from his hostage to smile at the boy.

"Zero! Welcome home!" He said loudly, Zero brushed snow off his head as he shrugged out of his coat.

"Yeah, I'm home… So where did the dog come from?" the dog whined as the man turned to look at the creature in his hands but it didn't release whatever it had captured from its mouth.

"While I was in town he was sitting on the sidewalk looking hungry and exhausted. I gave him a bit of my sandwich then took him home with me." Zero kicked off his shoes before walking down the hall towards his bedroom.

"If you brought him home then why was he outside?"

"He wouldn't come inside, but I guess his hunger got the best of him." The man slowly placed the dog on the ground, as soon as it could, the dog bolted to the door. It then hunched over and waited for the opportunity to leave the house again. Zero shrugged before opening his bedroom door.

"Why did you go to town anyway?" Zero asked without turning, "You usually send me out on errands because you're still the headmaster of this school. You don't exactly have time to spare." Kaien Cross (for that was the older man's name) folded his arms across his chest.

"Well you see Zero, I've been meaning to talk to you about this." He said seriously, he pulled out a piece of paper and looked at it. Zero turned, curious despite himself. Kaien turned the paper around, his expression melting from seriousness to a huge grin.

"I'm adopting a daughter!" Zero's eye twitched.

"You're… what?"

"When I first saw this picture I knew that I wanted to adopt her! And it's been so lonely without…" he stopped himself when Zero's expression grew dark, but he shoved the paper into zero's face as if nothing was wrong.

"Take a look at your cute new little sister!" Zero said nothing; he took the paper from Kaien so he could look at the picture pasted to the adoption sheet.

The girl in the picture stared straight at the camera with piercing golden eyes. Her blonde hair looked tasseled and uncared for, she looked about six maybe seven. Zero looked up from the picture somewhat uncertainly.

"How old is she? Eight?"

"That picture was taken years ago. She's three years younger than you, her name is Meiru." Kaien responded, "Isn't she adorable?"

"She looks angry to me," Zero answered, slapping the page back onto the chairman's chest before walking into his room.

"That's mean Zero, especially since you don't look anything but scary yourself!" Kaien held the paper away from Zero protectively.

"Why the sudden need to adopt? What's your real reason for this sudden change?" Zero asked coolly. He sensed the headmaster wasn't telling him something, and he knew that he was right when Kaien dimmed slightly.

"Because," he answered slowly, "Now that the moon dorm has finally been rebuilt… a few of the aristocratic vampire families wish for their children to attend our school." Zero jolted, he spun around his eyes widening with anger.

"What?" roared, the chairman calmly continued.

"Since you have sworn only to stay one more year at this school I decided that it would be best to have another child learn to be a disciplinary member. I need you to teach her what to do,"

"Is she a vampire?" Zero asked, now glaring at the sheet in the chairman's hand.

"No," the headmaster said even slower, as if trying to pick the right words to say. "As far as I know, she doesn't know anything about vampires existing." Zero's fist smacked against the wall.

"What is wrong with you?" Zero hissed between his teeth, "Have you forgotten what happened two years ago? Not only that but you're pulling a complete stranger into this world! She could easily get hurt! Or worse… Why would you pull in an unsuspecting human into this mess?"

"Zero, listen to me," Kaien adjusted his glasses calmly. "I have my reasons for choosing someone who has nothing to do with the vampire world for this job. Meiru has been bounced from family to family and I want to give her a home that she can call home like you do. No one knows anything about her past, but I want to give her a future."

"So you're adopting her out of pity?" Zero murmured, still angry that the chairman had allowed vampires to return to Cross academy.

"No Zero," the headmaster answered, "I'm adopting her in hopes that she can find happiness. And I also think it would be good for you to have someone to look after." Zero's head jerked to look after Kaien as he walked away down the hall.

"Take a shower so you don't catch a cold," the headmaster said over his shoulder before closing his door, leaving Zero to Simmer.

Zero flopped onto his bed before popping a bottle of blood tablets open. He tipped the bottle into his mouth and crunched the pills down.

It confused him that any aristocrat would allow their child to attend Cross academy after the incident two years before. But it angered him that, for whatever reason, Chairman Cross accepted and allowed these things to come to the school.

He closed his eyes; the picture of "Meiru" came to his thoughts. What of her? An unknown past? Adopted by the chairman? It reminded him too much of Yuuki.

_Yuuki…_ a stab of pain bit into his chest. He had avoided thoughts of her for ages.

He was rescued from his thoughts when something sharp bit into his foot. Zero opened his eyes to stare at the dog as it gnawed on his foot.

"What do you want?" he asked irritable, the dog jumped away with a growl. It crouched low snarling at Zero. "Hey, you came in here so don't give me that." Zero snapped the dog's fangs became more evident as its growl increased. Zero sighed; animals seemed to know by instinct that Zero was dangerous. Why this small dog had decided to come into his room and attack him he couldn't fathom, but it had, and it was irritating him.

He jumped onto his feet and gathered his towel and a clean change of clothes before he headed to the bathroom.

When he came back to his room the dog sat by his bed looking forlorn.

"You're sill in here?" Zero asked it. Immediately the dog growled and crouched into a fierce pose. Zero sat down and stared at the creature curiously.

It was definitely not afraid of him, unlike other animals that would run the other way when Zero approached; this dog seemed to want to face him head on. Zero reached out a hand to the dog, with a vicious snarl the creature jumped and sank his teeth into Zero's hand.

Zero's eyes narrowed and he frowned in pain. The dog didn't let up his grip one bit, its small dark eyes glared up at Zero. Slowly Zero brought up his other hand and gently patted the small dog's head. Its growl slowly subsided in his throat as zero continued to pet the dog's ears. The dog's mouth slowly unclamped its tight hold on Zero's hand. The small dog's liquid eyes stared up at Zero almost in confusion, than it began to lick the bite mark on Zero's hand.

Zero's expression softened as the dog crawled onto his knew, begging for more attention. Zero pulled himself onto his feet before lying down on his bed. There was a scramble of clicks on the floor before Zero felt something jump onto his stomach. He looked up to see the dog as it stretched out on top of him.

"What are you doing?" Zero asked the dog flicked as ear to show Zero that no matter what he did, the dog was going to stay. Zero raised a hand and absently scratched the dog's head. His thoughts turned to his hunt that day, thinking about something the vampire had said.

Zero left the first chance he could that day from school. A few of the students who hadn't had their memory erased from the events two years ago would often ask about the night class. Zero would tell them constantly that he had no idea what had become of them but they still persisted, hoping to find out what had happened of their past idols.

The hardest question of all came from Yori.

Like Zero she was now a senior, ready to graduate at the end of the year. She (unlike the others) didn't pester him continuously. She offered him friendship though, and let him be otherwise.

But more than once she asked the question, "Will you hunt Yuuki?"

He had decided those two years ago that he would kill all pure blooded vampires. Yuuki… as much as it burned him… was also his prey.

Zero walked to Kaien's house quickly to grab a jacket before he headed off to town. He didn't see the headmaster and didn't care to look for him until he found an envelope taped to the door; A request from the hunters association. Zero read the chairman's handwriting quickly.

_-I'm so sorry I couldn't greet you at home but your father had some business to attend to in town. I'm sure you've heard of a serial killer who targets young teens while you're off hunting at night, the vampire hunter association want you to find him tonight for he's been getting even more out of control. _

_-Father 3 _

Zero chucked the paper in the fire; sickened by the hearts Kaien had drawn all around the word father.

A chill in the air turned into a fierce winter wind as the sun began to disappear. Zero cursed, he should have put on a heavier jacket. But by then he was already in the town and it was too late to go back.

People scurried to their homes as the sun set. Zero walked through the neighborhood and watched as several children were called in by their parents. Not a single teenager walked the streets, which meant either the vampire wasn't out on a hunt tonight or he already had prey.

For the longest time the town had grown silent. Zero walked past homes where he could hear exhausted parents trying to get their young ones to bed. A fight between a brother and sister echoed out from a window when an angry parent closed the pane to break up the fight in peace. A family laughed, a family mourned. Zero tried to shut out the noises and feelings from the houses as he turned to walk towards the center of town.

The town's square felt empty and lonely without the usual bustle the day brought. Zero stopped as he caught sight of a figure darting behind a lamppost before turning to look around their hiding spot.

A human, a young human girl. Zero walked up to the figure.

"Hey!" he said sharply, the person spun around, jumping high in the air with a shrill scream. She collapsed onto the ground in front of Zero and stared up at him with wide gray eyes.

Zero studied the girl as he let her breathe and calm down. She looked about thirteen with short hair cropped up to her ears. She wore a shirt that would have been quite exposing if she was older, a mini skirt and tall shiny boots. She looked like she had gotten ready for a date. Slowly her wide eyes softened at the sight of Zero into a smile. Zero watched as she jumped up onto her feet and quickly brushed herself off, a bright red blush colored her cheeks.

"Oh my… you startled me!" She stuttered. Before she smiled (or what she probably thought was) a radiant smile. I had no idea you were so handsome! I knew I wanted to meet you but I didn't know…" she trailed off; her hand twisted itself into her dark brown hair as she looked up at Zero nervously with a smaller timid smile. Zero opened his mouth to speak, but she piped up before he had a chance. "Well I came out here to meet you just like we planned! But I must admit I had a lot of trouble sneaking away from my parents!"

Zero's eyes narrowed in realization, "I don't know what you're talking about," he said the moment she breathed, immediately the girl became uncertain.

"Didn't we meet online?" she took a step back away from Zero. He raised his hands up in surrender, trying not to freak the girl out too much, but thirteen year old girls were always too unpredictable with their mood swings.

"No we didn't, I don't mean you any harm but there's someone out here that does. You need to go home now." The girl put her hands on her hips.

"Oh you sound like my grandma! I'm not going anywhere until I meet Falore! We've been planning this for a week! I was finally going to meet him and some stuck up jerk isn't going to stop m-" Before she finished Zero spun around to face the person he had heard approach them from behind him. He pulled out bloody rose mid spin and aimed it right at the Vampire's head.

A young man held his hands up defensively but he kept a coy, cocky smile on his thin pale face.

"Whoa now," he said in a smooth sincere tone, "We're all friends here, no need to point that. Someone might get hurt." He had the same smell as many other vampires that had been appearing in the area recently, that meant they all had one master. Zero glared at the predator who merely watched him with curiosity. Zero narrowed his eyes; the vampire also didn't seem to be surprised in the least that Zero was there. The girl grabbed Zero's arm and held it protectively.

"What are you doing?" She shrieked, her eyes widening in terror. Zero shrugged her off easily.

"Don't worry my dear," the vampire said in an easy going tone, "He can take the shot if he really wants too." The vampire walked up to Zero until the point of the weapon dug into his chest. "You know don't you? That my master has plans for you; go ahead, shoot me dead, but my master plans to take everything precious from you." Zero twitched as the spy made his subtle point before a cold smile found its way on his face.

"Everything precious to me has already been stolen away," he muttered, he then pulled the trigger.

Zero awoke to the loud bang of his door opening and the chairman dancing into his room. The dog jumped up and scurried under Zero's bed as Zero irritably sat up and glared at Kaien.

"Zero!" the chairman sang, "Today's the day! Your cute new little sister is coming home!"

"Would you shut up? You're too loud for the morning. What the hell are you talking about anyway?" Kaien put his hands on his hips.

"Don't tell me you've forgotten our conversation last night," Kaien said, without bothering to let Zero answer Kaien continued, "I need you to help Meiru adjust here and be the best brother you can be for her."

Meiru? Who the hell was Meiru? Zero caught sight of the adoption paper in Kaien's hands, the night before flooded back. Zero let himself glare at the headmaster.

"My, that's a scary face!" the chairman said, "Now get ready, we're going to go meet her!" The dog had slowly inched itself out from under the bed, but as soon as the headmaster had left, it jumped back up onto the bed and stared up at Zero. Zero rubbed his eyes with a sigh. The chairman's energy had already tired him out. It wouldn't big deal to skip out on meeting this girl. Zero had a feeling she would be just like Kaien, just like her… Zero shook his head. He didn't need to let his mind sink again.

"Fine," he looked down at the dog, "But if I have to go, you have to go." He got up and grabbed a change of clothes. The dog jumped down onto the ground before it flopped lazily, he didn't seem to care either way if he left or not.

"Zero! Let's go!" Kaien called,

"Come on," Zero said to the dog who immediately perked up before jumping towards Zero. The headmaster smiled brightly.

"Does he have a name?" Zero didn't answer; he just followed the chairman to the car.

Zero wanted to kill him. The chairman had written MEIRU on a huge, pink sign and was dancing up and down in the airport. Zero was holding the dog so it wouldn't get lost or trampled in the crowd with one hand while he rubbed his temples with the other.

"Would you stop?" he asked irritably, knowing that Kaien would only ignore him.

"Zero stop being such a kill joy!" Kaien pouted,

"Stop being annoying,"

"Zero! You shouldn't treat your father that way!" Kaien pointed at Zero, letting the creepy sign drop in only one hand. "I've let you act that way for too long young man. So it's about time that I punished you!" Zero sighed irritably, squeezing his eyes closed before he opened them to look back at the headmaster. He immediately wished he hadn't.

"You're punishment is to run into my arms and call me father!" Kaien said, his arms outstretched with a huge, wistful grin on his face. The sign now lay on the ground completely forgotten, but the name still showed brightly. Zero turned away feeling sick.

"Go to hell," Zero answered,

"Come on Zero run into my arms!"

"Stop trying to get me to be your son!" Zero said through clenched teeth.

"Zero-"

"Kaien Cross," a deep rumbling voice interrupted the headmaster. Zero and the chairman both looked up. A tall man stepped up to them.

He was a large, well built man with arms that bulged in his dark suit coat. In one large hand he delicately held a duct taped suitcase that's handle was missing. In the other he held the shoulder of a girl as if holding her back so she wouldn't run away.

His small almond eyes studied first Kaien then fell on Zero. His eyes narrowed at the sight of the boy.

"I'm Raul Tanoyaki," the man reported, still glaring down at Zero.

"Oh from the adoption agency." Kaien said, slowly dropping his arms before turning to look at the big man. "Yes, how is everything?"

Zero studied the girl that stood beside the tall worker. She was staring at the ground with her long blonde hair hiding her face. A few pink scars stood out against her pale skin on her arms. A small bag was slung over her shoulder and a black rectangle was clutched tightly in her hand. After staring at it for a while, Zero realized it was the handle of the suitcases in Raul's hand.

"Alright Mr. Tanoyaki, is there anything that I need to know?"

"Just one thing, I'm staying here for a few weeks, my number is in these papers," Raul held up a stack of stapled papers. "If she's too much, call me and I'll take her back."

Kaien also looked at the girl that stood almost awkwardly in front of him before he smiled up at Raul. "I can assure you that I don't think that will happen." He said.

"Hn," the bigger man grunted, "We'll just see I'll give you a week to last. This one is such a handful, many families thought they could take care of her but they all ended the same." The man turned to look at the blonde girl, his grip on her shoulder seemed to have tightened.

"Meiru," he barked, "Say hello to your new family."

Meiru slowly looked up revealing a pretty face, except for her fierce golden eyes that glared at the chairman. She looked tired but not only that but her face seemed somewhat sunken in as if she had been starved for a long time.

"Hi," she snapped, he eyes blazed as they stared at Kaien as if daring him to change his mind right there and then.

The chairman remained unfazed and just let his grin grow wider. "Hello!" he said brightly as if the girl in front of him had sung her greeting happily. The girl's eyes grew darker; Zero suddenly had a sense of growing dread. _What have you gotten us into? _Zero wondered as he stared at the girl.

-End chapter 1-

**Alright, so I admit everyone is probably completely OC and what not but I don't know anymore so I tried and it took me forever to write this chapter. No kidding, I haven't stopped writing this chapter and rewriting some parts of it and giving up on other since I finished the prologue, then came finding the time to type it up which I mostly did during one of my classes that I don't have to do anything in so HA! Well I hope you liked it anyway. Thanks for reading it! **

**I always thought if given the chance Zero would be good with animals.**

**Anyway bye! -Esther**


	3. Remember me? Don't get excited

Hey Guys

So I've been in kind of a rut lately and have only just started writing again. So I composed a poll on my profile to see what you guys think I should update first. (For some reason it doesn't seem to be showing up…. Meh electronics hate me (Why u majoring in digital Media then?))

I look through some of my stories and cringe because they were written so badly (cough devil's eye cough). But others make me laugh and I'm excited to write more (The strangers we hide and Dewdrop's on Roses especially). I've stumbled upon many MANY starts on the next chapters (Love in strangest Packages, split, and Twelve Days of Christmas) And story splurges that take place in an arrangement of stories. So Really I have something to base what I'm going to do with my stories.

I really am sorry for the complete inconvenience I've been, it's interesting…. When you graduate from High school then realize that you actually need to have a life… meh… Anyway.

To those who actually read this thank you. Haha I've been so down lately. I have no job, not in school anymore, no social life, I feel like nobody likes me, and I'm trying to lose weight. Do the victory dance with me yall.

Well PM me if you have any questions concerns or just cause you want someone to talk to (Esther u lonely?) Love you guys for sticking with me (I opened this account when I was 13…. I'm now 19… wooooooow)

-Lots of love and hearts Esther ^.^


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